In politics, blogs and text messages are the new American way

WASHINGTON The transformation of American politics by the Internet is accelerating with the approach of the 2006 congressional and 2008 presidential elections, producing far-reaching changes in the way campaigns handle advertising, fund-raising, the mobilizing of supporters and even the spreading of negative information. Democrats and Republicans are sharply increasing their use of e-mail, interactive Web sites, blogs and text- messaging to raise money, organize get- out-the-vote efforts and assemble crowds for rallies. The Internet, they said, appears to be far more efficient, and less costly, than the traditional tools of politics, notably door-to-door visits and telephone banks. Analysts said the campaign television advertisement, already diminishing in influence with the proliferation of cable stations, faces new challenges as campaigns experiment with technology that allows direct messaging to more specific audiences, as well as with unconventional means. Those include podcasts featuring a daily downloaded message from a candidate and so-called viral attack videos, designed to trigger peer-to-peer distribution by e-mail chains, without being associated with any candidate or campaign. Campaigns are now studying popular Internet social networks, like Friendster and Facebook, as ways to reach groups of potential supporters with similar views or cultural interests. President George W. Bush's media consultant, Mark McKinnon, said television advertising, while still crucial to campaigns, had become markedly less influential in persuading voters than it was even two years ago. "I feel like a woolly mammoth," he said. What the parties and the candidates are undergoing now is in many ways similar to what has happened in other sectors - including the music industry, newspapers and retailing - as they try to adjust to, and take advantage of, the Internet as its influence spreads across American society. To a considerable extent, they are responding to, and playing catch-up with, bloggers. Certainly, the Internet was a significant factor in 2004, particularly with the early success in fund-raising and organizing by Howard Dean, a Democratic presidential contender. But officials in both parties say the extent to which the parties have now recognized and rely on the Internet has increased at a staggering rate over the past two years. The percentage of Americans who went online for election news jumped from 13 percent in the 2002 election cycle to 29 percent in 2004, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center after the last presidential election. A Pew survey released in March found that 50 million Americans go to the Internet for news every day, up from 27 million people in March 2002, a reflection of the fact that the Internet is now available to 70 percent of Americans. This means, aides said, rethinking every assumption. Early in the 2004 campaign, John Edwards, then a Democratic senator from North Carolina seeking his party's presidential nomination, spent much of his time talking to voters in living rooms in New Hampshire and Iowa; now he is putting aside hours every week to videotape responses to videotaped questions, with the entire exchange posted on his blog. "The effect of the Internet on politics will be every bit as transformational as television was," said Ken Mehlman, the Republican national chairman. "If you want to get your message out, the old way of paying someone to make a TV ad is insufficient: You need your message out through the Internet, through e- mail, through talk radio." Michael Cornfield, a political science professor at George Washington University who studies politics and the Internet, said campaigns were actually late in coming to the game. "Politicians are having a hard time reconciling themselves to a medium where they can't control the message," Cornfield said. "Politics is lagging, but politics is not going to be immune to the digital revolution." If there was any resistance, it is rapidly melting away. Mark Warner, the former Democratic governor of Virginia, began preparing for a potential 2008 presidential campaign by hiring a blogging pioneer, Jerome Armstrong. Warner is now one of at least three potential presidential candidates - the others are the party's 2004 presidential and vice presidential candidates, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Edwards - who are routinely posting what aides say are their own writings on campaign blogs or on public blogs like the Daily Kos, the country's largest. Analysts said that the Internet appeared to be a particularly potent way to appeal to new, young voters. In the 2004 campaign, 80 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 34 who contributed to Kerry's campaign made their contribution online, said Carol Darr, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University. As it becomes more integrated into American politics, the Internet also is being pressed into service for the less seemly side of campaigns. Both parties have set up Web sites to discredit opponents. In Tennessee, Republicans spotlighted what they described as the lavish spending of Representative Harold Ford Jr. with a site called www.fancyford.com. The site drew 100,000 hits the first weekend, and extensive coverage in the mainstream Tennessee press, often the real goal of such sites. And this past weekend, the Republicans launched a new attack site called www.bobsbaggage.com that focuses on ethics accusations against Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. For their part, Democrats have set up decoy Web sites to post documents with damaging information about Republicans. They described this as far more efficient than slipping a document to a newspaper reporter.